


don't stop the music

by ubertastic



Category: Love Live! Sunshine!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bittersweet Ending, F/F, Light Angst, Piano, Unrequited Love, friends uplifting and supporting you after you get your heartbroken
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-05
Updated: 2018-10-05
Packaged: 2019-07-25 10:44:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,852
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16195946
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ubertastic/pseuds/ubertastic
Summary: When Riko came to Uchiura, she wasn't expecting to fall in love.one-sided KanaRiko, no-Aqours AU





	don't stop the music

**Author's Note:**

> when i started writing this, the idea was "wouldn't it be funny if riko had a crush on kanan in one of those 'this older person my best friend knows is super hot' kinda way" but instead i wrote something that amounts more to a riko character study, and kanan and riko don't even get together in the end. what the fuck
> 
> anyway this is a weird, half-fleshed out AU where, for whatever reason, aqours never happened, so all the characters are sort of drifting around aimlessly. my deepest apologies for this sad mess

Perhaps the transition should have been more difficult. 

When her parents broke the news to her that her father had been assigned to a provincial office -- on paper a promotion, but nonetheless a move that would take him away from their beloved Tokyo -- they had assured her they would do whatever it took to ensure that she could stay. Otonokizaka High School had always had a venerated music program, and they hadn’t wanted her to give up on such a clear cut future for her father’s.

But Riko finds a sense of comfort in Uchiura that she hadn’t felt in Tokyo in years. Not since the piano competitions started to get more serious, since her teacher started offhandedly mentioning talent agencies.

It’s not like Tokyo isn’t going to be there when she finally decides to go back, Riko tells herself. Her piano teacher had been so distraught when Riko told him she was moving, he assured her she would always be welcome back under his tutelage, anytime she was back in Tokyo.

Right now, however -- one week into the move -- Riko can’t see herself going back to Tokyo anytime soon. Here in Uchiura, she has new friends who know more about her piano slump than her parents, a beautiful view of Mt. Fuji, and the fresh sea air greeting her every morning.

Perhaps that’s all she needs to be satisfied.

\--

And it is... until it isn’t.

Chika-chan introduces Riko to her childhood friend as part of her grand scheme to help Riko with her slump. Riko goes along with it, in part because Chika-chan’s energy is infectious and it’s easy to get wrapped up in it, but also because a part of her deep down needs to be able to sit at a piano again without feeling like tearing her skin apart.

Kanan-chan, as Chika-chan gleefully explains, has been running her family shop while her father recovers from a leg injury but attends Uranohoshi the same as them. She’s pretty -- like _so_ pretty -- Chika-chan practically gushes on the ferry ride across the bay, and she could probably bench a walrus. 

Riko watches as Chika-chan gestures wildly, clearly excited about the upcoming meeting, before coyly asking, “Chika-chan, do you _like_ Kanan-san?”

Chika-chan flushes a pretty pink. “I, um… not anymore,” she says quietly, suddenly shy.

“Kanan-san really must be something,” Riko says, sparing Chika-chan any extra embarrassment by not lingering on the confession. “I’m excited to meet her.”

“You’ll love her!” Chika-chan enthuses, her energy back. “I just know it.”

Kanan-san greets them as they step off the ferry, dressed in a wetsuit with diving goggles hung around her neck. Riko is struck for a moment by the sharpness of her features -- she looks like a character straight out of one of Riko’s romance novels -- and that’s all it takes for her to stumble a bit as she steps off the boat. 

“Woah, there,” Kanan-san says, steadying Riko with a hand braced against each arm. “I see you’re still getting your sea legs.”

“Nice catch, Kanan-chan!” Chika-chan says, hopping off the boat behind Riko. “This is Riko-chan.”

Kanan-san takes a step back, her fingers still brushing against Riko’s forearms, and gives her a once-over. “So this is the girl you won’t stop talking about, Chika. I guess I don’t blame you; she’s pretty.”

Riko feels her face heat up as Chika walks around them, scratching the back of her head. “It’s not just that,” Chika-chan says -- not quite a denial. “We don’t get transfer students everyday. Especially not from places like Tokyo.”

“Ah, a Tokyo girl. That certainly explains it,” Kanan-san says, looking over Riko again with an easy grin. “Well then, Riko-chan, are you ready to leave Tokyo behind for good?”

Under Kanan-san’s gaze, with Kanan-san’s arms still lightly touching her arms, Riko thinks she wouldn’t mind never seeing Tokyo again.

\--

It only takes Riko two weeks to return to the piano in the end.

Her first attempts are halting and stilted things, her fingers freezing up more than they actually press any keys down, but when she leaves her room afterward, she catches her parents hiding grins. 

Chika-chan is perhaps even more excited about it than she is, hanging out her window as Riko returns to the basics -- playing scales and cadences when her hands refuse to do anything more complicated -- and clapping frantically when she finishes, no matter how simple the exercises are.

“I don’t know why you’re so committed to this,” Riko says at one point, from her balcony to Chika’s open window.

“I know what it’s like for someone to live without a passion, I guess,” Chika-chan responds. “And if I can help with that, I’d do anything.”

“Talking about yourself, Miss Go-Home-Club?”

“Maybe,” Chika-chan sing-songs, the tone just wry enough that Riko can’t help but feel that she isn’t. At least not in this case.

Chika-chan takes her across the bay to Kanan-chan’s family shop about once a week, You-chan joining them on days she doesn’t have swim practice, in hopes that the ocean will finally speak to her and fix all her problems.

It’s still early in the year for tourists, so Kanan-chan has plenty of time to chaperone them, letting them stay out in the water longer than the tour times would normally allow and chat in the boat afterwards instead of immediately taking them back to shore.

“No luck?” Kanan-chan asks, hauling Riko out of the water effortlessly. 

Riko pulls her goggles off, laying on the deck with her eyes closed. “Getting there,” she says.

“I hope you have a breakthrough soon,” Kanan-chan says, giving You-chan a hand up.

“Trying to get rid of us?” Chika-chan jokes, from her place on the stern deck, her legs dangling in the water.

“Like I could if I tried,” Kanan-chan shoots back. “But seriously, the way Chika talks you up… Riko-chan, I’d love to hear you play sometime.”

Something about those words sets a tightness in Riko’s chest, different than the one she’s gotten used to feeling when she thinks about performing, and she hears notes in the back of her head. Fleeting, like a dream forgotten upon waking.

“You’ll be one of the first to know as soon as I have something,” Riko tells her, more notes ringing in her head when Kanan-chan sends her a bright smile.

\--

There’s a melody constantly playing in her head when she finally gets the courage to ask Chika-chan a question that’s been weighing on her for weeks now, on their walk home.

“Did you ever tell Kanan-chan how you felt?”

Chika-chan stops mid-step, her expression shell-shocked as though her mind just screeched to a halt. Eyes skirting to the side, she scratches at her cheek. “Uh, no, I never did.”

“Why not?”

“Riko-chan,” Chika-chan says, resuming eye contact with an intensity Riko almost wouldn’t expect from her, “why do you want to know?”

Riko’s chest tightens up, the melody in her ears pulsing louder with every second. “Please, just tell me.”

Chika-chan drops her gaze, sighing. “Kanan-chan had a girlfriend,” she says. “She _has_ a girlfriend.”

Throat suddenly as tight as her chest, Riko looks out across the ocean, squinting when the light reflecting off the water catches her eyes. It’s the light, not her eyes burning. “That makes sense,” she manages, voice strained. “Kanan-chan really is something.”

In her head, the melody crests and fades into the distance.

\--

There’s an irony to it. Running from the piano drove Riko to Uchiura, and running from what she knows of Uchiura drives her back to the piano.

She tries not to dwell on it. When she practices, she can fully absorb herself in just the feeling of her fingers against the keys, the way her joints grow stiff after too many hours of consecutive use. 

She composes a new piece in an hour, rewrites it in another. Despite herself, she calls her piano teacher and plays it for him, half-heartedly agreeing to come back to Tokyo at some point to perform it at a competition.

“It’s beautiful,” Chika-chan tells her, across the gap between their houses, one night when Riko is packing up after a long evening of playing. “Did you write that yourself?”

Riko jumps at the unexpected comment, fallboard clattering as it slips from her hands. “I did,” she says, stepping out onto the balcony.

“That’s amazing,” Chika-chan says, before frowning. “I’m sorry.”

“What for?”

“It wasn’t supposed to be like this. When you got your passion back,” Chika-chan fiddles with her fingers, unable to make eye contact, “it was supposed to be finding out how to shine again. Instead it seems like I ruined it.”

Riko can’t stop the incredulous laugh that bubbles out of her. “What do you mean? This isn’t your fault.”

“Of course it is! I introduced you to Kanan-chan; I kept taking you back to her.” Chika-chan lets out a nervous chuckle. “She’s an unwitting flirt, you know? She’s good at making people fall for her.”

“Still, you didn’t have any control over that. That was all me,” Riko argues. Then, under her breath, “It’s really my fault anyway, falling for the first girl to flirt with me.”

“Are you going back?”

“What?”

“To Tokyo,” Chika-chan explains. “Do you think you want to go back?”

“I,” Riko starts, pausing to let the sea air wash over her. “No, I don’t think I do. I like it here.”

“Good,” Chika-chan says, looking relieved. “You-chan and I would miss you.”

A smile grows on Riko’s face before she can stop it. “Is that so? I guess I do owe you two a concert, don’t I?”

“Ah, that’s right!”

“You and You-chan and,” Riko swallows, “Kanan-chan. You three really helped me a bunch these past few weeks.”

“You just tell us when, and we’ll be there,” Chika-chan promises. “We’ve been dying to hear you play.”

Riko giggles. “What are you talking about? You’ve been listening in this whole time!”

“It’s not the same,” Chika-chan insists. “I bet you’re really radiant when you perform. Like actually perform, not just practice.”

“I’m just an ordinary girl,” Riko shoots back, reflexively. “Anyone could do this with enough time and effort.”

“Sure, sure,” Chika-chan says, clearly not believing her. 

A comfortable silence settles over them for a moment, and Riko soaks in the crisp night air, the feeling of having a friend close. 

“Hey, Riko-chan,” Chika-chan says, hesitantly, as though she regrets breaking the silence as much as she wants to say her piece, “you can talk to me about it whenever you want, you know?”

“Yeah, of course,” Riko agrees.

“I just don’t want you to think you have to suffer in silence or anything like that. We’ve all been there, you know? Well, not _all_ of us and not _there_ exactly, but, um, some of us… have,” Chika-chan trails off. “You, uh, you know what I meant.”

“Thank you, Chika-chan,” Riko says, as genuinely as she’s said anything. 

They settle into another silence, Chika-chan leaning against her window sill and Riko’s arms folded under her head on her balcony banister. 

Despite everything, her fingers still itch to play.


End file.
